Many women, especially those who raise children on their own, are dreaming about achieving financial security. Unfortunately, this can be nearly impossible to achieve, because they don’t have the necessary basic financial skills. In reality, any individual from all walks of life has the opportunity to achieve financial security. When it comes to our financial security, ignorance shouldn’t be bliss. There are a number of inherent pitfalls in our lives that can affect women. For wives, divorce, death of the husband, illness and job loss can cause significant financial complications. Even fairy tales princess, like Cinderella, need to face harsh realities of lives before they can achieve financial security. Unfortunately, not all women can finally find their charming prince.
For financially distressed women and mothers, their first step toward financial security is by understanding their current state of affairs. This should allow them to map out an effective success strategy and they should know the proper starting point. It is like Dorothy who follows one step at a time to escape the magical Land of Oz. The first tool that women need to have is a type of recordkeeping device and it should work well. Additionally, women should have the right knowledge and they can purchase books on financial security. Many financial books are made easy for beginners to read, understand and implement. Achieving financial security will take a lot of effort, however it can be divided into phases and steps that can be completed one at a time.
Financial security is about having more than enough money to meet financial obligations, even until our death. We should find out how much we have in savings account, checking and cash. Many women who are recently widowed or divorced need to be careful about promises of financial success through various investing ventures. Traditional investment tools are bonds and stocks; but in reality everything we spend our money on should be considered as an investment. The big screen TV we buy can considered as an investment in entertainment, if such an activity may refresh us, allowing us to be more productive. Paying the utility bills is an investment to keep the light on and water flowing. If we start to see expenses as reasonable investments, they should be considered as worthy and important considerations. It means that paying for alcoholic beverages shouldn’t be considered as an entertainment investment, because risks of addiction could result in poor productivity and elevated medical bills.
Most importantly, we should know where our money is going. It is important for us to know every last dime that we spend. There should be a small notebook to help us track expenses. We should track things by collecting all the receipts. If we can’t find evidences of our spending, then we should ask questions and make estimates. If there are mysterious expenses that we can’t track, we should snoop around to find out.